Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Sells 14,857 Shares of Telephone and Data Systems, Inc. $TDS

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System lowered its holdings in Telephone and Data Systems, Inc. (NYSE:TDS) by 51.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 14,129 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock after selling 14,857 shares during the quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Telephone and Data Systems were worth $554,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Assetmark Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Telephone and Data Systems by 53.1% in the second quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,297 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Telephone and Data Systems by 191.3% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,311 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 861 shares in the last quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. raised its stake in shares of Telephone and Data Systems by 36.8% in the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 2,965 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $106,000 after acquiring an additional 797 shares during the last quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Telephone and Data Systems during the third quarter worth approximately $212,000. Finally, Forum Financial Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Telephone and Data Systems during the third quarter valued at approximately $213,000. 80.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Anita J. Kroll sold 16,217 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.02, for a total value of $632,787.34. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 870 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $33,947.40. This represents a 94.91% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 14.97% of the company’s stock.

Telephone and Data Systems Price Performance

TDS opened at $44.87 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $40.21 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $39.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.16 billion, a PE ratio of -41.55 and a beta of 0.32. Telephone and Data Systems, Inc. has a 52 week low of $31.07 and a 52 week high of $45.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 1.88 and a current ratio of 1.89.

Telephone and Data Systems (NYSE:TDS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 7th. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.06) by $0.13. Telephone and Data Systems had a positive return on equity of 1.15% and a negative net margin of 1.46%.The business had revenue of $308.52 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.16 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned ($0.73) EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Telephone and Data Systems, Inc. will post -0.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Telephone and Data Systems Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 15th were given a dividend of $0.04 per share. This represents a $0.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 15th. Telephone and Data Systems’s payout ratio is presently -14.81%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on TDS. Zacks Research cut shares of Telephone and Data Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 1st. Citigroup increased their price objective on Telephone and Data Systems from $45.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Telephone and Data Systems in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Telephone and Data Systems from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 15th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Telephone and Data Systems currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $51.67.

About Telephone and Data Systems

Telephone and Data Systems, Inc (NYSE: TDS) is a diversified telecommunications company headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Through its subsidiaries, the company provides a broad array of communications services, including wireless voice and data, wireline broadband and voice, cable television, and managed IT and cloud solutions. Its two primary operating units—TDS Telecom and U.S. Cellular—serve residential, business and wholesale customers across the United States.

TDS Telecom focuses on delivering broadband internet, digital voice, video and data communications services in primarily rural and suburban markets.